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Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Reports and reaction from the 2007-08 season as Walsall finished 12th in League 1
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WFC_Rob
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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:46 am

The fact that we needed a 93rd minute Ian Roper header from a corner to salvage a point at home against a side who I don't think have been out of the bottom 6 all season speaks for itself.

To be fair, their goalkeeper had a very good game and we could have been 2 up by half time. That would have been papering over the cracks however (much like the result may well have done) as we looked completely lost for ideas. Holmes is our only outlet going forward who ever looks like delivering anything with any quality. I think some of the comments on Betsy have been a little over the top, but it has to be said that when he goes forward, you just hope we get a corner or a throw in as a result, because he gives little end product.

Mooney looks a shadow of his former self. He can get the fans going all he likes, but fans don't win games, goals do.
Whether his ineptitude in front of goal has anything to do with his contract situation doesn't matter - he's not doing the business and should be replaced with someone with the balls to join a club with an outside chance of playing at Wembley and making a real name for themselves. Ideally, we'd go out and get 2 strikers, but we've already wasted money on Moore, so I won't hold my breath.

I actually thought Dobson had a decent game today. I'd even go as far as saying he'd have been my man of the match. Laugh all you like but without him, they'd have trampled all over our midfield for fun. As has been said by myself along with others on here before, what you see is what you get with Dobson. Play him in midfield with someone with any attacking nouse about them and it'll work well as he'll be allowed that hole in front of the defence to sweep up. Ask him to do anything else however, and you'll begin to see his flaws. Wrack might as well have not bothered getting out of bed today, and that's coming from a Wrack fan. Dobson was generally neat and tidy, only being made to look wasteful by the lack of movement around him and an increasing oweness on him as the game went on to do more than just his defensive duties.

The back four played as we've come to expect. Gerrard was generally solid and won everything in the air, Boertein was alright if not a little shakey, Weston was excellent defensively and got forward to good effect at times too. Roper was Roper - did the bare minimum when required to clear the ball and make the odd block, but was incapable of offering anything more. Deserved his first booking and we have to thank the fact that we had a reasonably sensible referee who gave him the 'one more and you're off' talk before half time, for not giving him his marching orders before he popped up with the goal.

Other than echoing the point which has constantly been made since January, that we need at least 2 new players, there isn't really anything else to say. Nicky Maynard is a prime example of how keeping your best players will pay off. He took his goal really well today, to go along with the goals he's been scoring for fun recently. We don't have a player in our squad capable of doing what he did for the goal. And as much as it's done and dusted now, had we not sold Scott Dann, I'd like to think Maynard wouldn't have had that opportunity.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:18 am

WFC_Rob wrote:a great match report


Thanks - I liked that.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:37 pm

WFC_Rob wrote:The fact that we needed a 93rd minute Ian Roper header from a corner to salvage a point at home against a side who I don't think have been out of the bottom 6 all season speaks for itself.

To be fair, their goalkeeper had a very good game and we could have been 2 up by half time. That would have been papering over the cracks however (much like the result may well have done) as we looked completely lost for ideas. Holmes is our only outlet going forward who ever looks like delivering anything with any quality. I think some of the comments on Betsy have been a little over the top, but it has to be said that when he goes forward, you just hope we get a corner or a throw in as a result, because he gives little end product.

Mooney looks a shadow of his former self. He can get the fans going all he likes, but fans don't win games, goals do.
Whether his ineptitude in front of goal has anything to do with his contract situation doesn't matter - he's not doing the business and should be replaced with someone with the balls to join a club with an outside chance of playing at Wembley and making a real name for themselves. Ideally, we'd go out and get 2 strikers, but we've already wasted money on Moore, so I won't hold my breath.

I actually thought Dobson had a decent game today. I'd even go as far as saying he'd have been my man of the match. Laugh all you like but without him, they'd have trampled all over our midfield for fun. As has been said by myself along with others on here before, what you see is what you get with Dobson. Play him in midfield with someone with any attacking nouse about them and it'll work well as he'll be allowed that hole in front of the defence to sweep up. Ask him to do anything else however, and you'll begin to see his flaws. Wrack might as well have not bothered getting out of bed today, and that's coming from a Wrack fan. Dobson was generally neat and tidy, only being made to look wasteful by the lack of movement around him and an increasing oweness on him as the game went on to do more than just his defensive duties.

The back four played as we've come to expect. Gerrard was generally solid and won everything in the air, Boertein was alright if not a little shakey, Weston was excellent defensively and got forward to good effect at times too. Roper was Roper - did the bare minimum when required to clear the ball and make the odd block, but was incapable of offering anything more. Deserved his first booking and we have to thank the fact that we had a reasonably sensible referee who gave him the 'one more and you're off' talk before half time, for not giving him his marching orders before he popped up with the goal.

Other than echoing the point which has constantly been made since January, that we need at least 2 new players, there isn't really anything else to say. Nicky Maynard is a prime example of how keeping your best players will pay off. He took his goal really well today, to go along with the goals he's been scoring for fun recently. We don't have a player in our squad capable of doing what he did for the goal. And as much as it's done and dusted now, had we not sold Scott Dann, I'd like to think Maynard wouldn't have had that opportunity.


I think you have hit the nail on the head there.

although has anyone actually offered a decent amount for him? im not sure, but either way hes a top player.

You can see why crewe will survive this season, theyre awful, except for their front two. Pope looked a decent player too even if he couldnt hit a barn door.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:10 pm

latviancheese wrote:I think you have hit the nail on the head there.

although has anyone actually offered a decent amount for him? im not sure, but either way hes a top player.


I agree. Top post, Rob.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember someone half decent offering a half decent amount for Maynard last summer.



I'm not exactly Soccerbase, am I? :oops:

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:46 pm

King Crimson wrote:
latviancheese wrote:I think you have hit the nail on the head there.

although has anyone actually offered a decent amount for him? im not sure, but either way hes a top player.


I agree. Top post, Rob.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember someone half decent offering a half decent amount for Maynard last summer.



I'm not exactly Soccerbase, am I? :oops:

In all fairness, he'd also been out for a large part of the season with a broken leg. It's not too difficult to keep hold of a player when they're not able to play, after all. I'm pretty sure Everton were the club who were at least snffing around Maynard over the summer.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:32 pm

WFC_Rob wrote: I'm pretty sure Everton were the club who were at least snffing around Maynard over the summer.


Yep!!!!

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:50 pm

It took Ian Roper less time to get booked than it did for Darren Wrack too touch the ball. Enough said methinks!! :lol:

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:03 pm

PH is right about the opposition wanting it more than us. Just before our equaliser we had a few chances around the box and when the ball broke to the edge of the area where were the majority of our players? 15 yards from the edge of the box, sucking their chuffing thumbs that's where. As long as you put a 100% in eh, lads? And some fans still clap like demented seals being thrown fish :roll:

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:31 pm

I acually didn't think the performance was too bad, but I agree that the central midfield simply didn't support the front two and get into the box. I'm still wondering how Mooney missed that header with about 15 minutes to go. It sho3s me that we are short of options up front. If Moore isn't going to make an impression then we'll have to look elsewhere. It's funny that at the start of the season we needed a Central Midfielder and a Striker and we STILL need these two players...

I was impressed with both Nicholls and Deeney when they came on. I think they both showed that they deserve to start the next game as they wanted it far more than Betty and Sonko. Nicholls showed just how poor their right back was yet Betty couldn't turn a page.

And how Weston didn't get man of the match i'll never know.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:29 pm

It's somewhat depressing that there's under 70 responses on this thread, but I guess the 500+ posts in AAW make up for it.

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:53 pm

Exile wrote:It's somewhat depressing that there's under 70 responses on this thread, but I guess the 500+ posts in AAW make up for it.


Well, we didn't lose did we :wink:

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Re: Crewe Alexandra (H) League 1 Monday 24/3/08 .Kick Off 3pm

Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:56 pm

WFC_Rob wrote:what you see is what you get with Dobson


Finally, we agree! An immobile lump with the passing range of John Keister....hoooooooooffff!

Our worst spells of the season were at the start, when Dobson played, and started again when.....Dobson barged his way back into a run in the team. Quite appropriate because barging opponents off the ball and giving a foul away is his forte.

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